Virginia Beach students perform on stage with Netherlands Navy band
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Some high school musicians in Virginia Beach got a lesson from the professionals.
Members of the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy practiced and performed with Tallwood High School band students in front of their peers.
It’s a day students and staff there look forward to all year. They’ve been fortunate enough to host the honor band from NATO Fest for about two decades now, and it’s always a performance that hits a higher note with the students.
Music and Global Studies and World Languages Academy students at Tallwood got a front row seat to learn about a different culture, and even learned how to say good morning in a different language.
Band members are helping local students learn the opportunities that can come from a career in the military and the arts.
“We hope that they really have an appreciation for the the purpose that music serves in their lives, both culturally and professionally, potentially,” said Global Studies and World Languages Coordinator Jessica Windish.
This is the second time members of the Netherlands band have been honorary Lions, playing alongside students.
Senior Jaylen Swafford, who plays the saxophone, said they’ve been preparing to perform with the band for about a month.
“I think it’s always great to play with bands from different cultures,” Swafford said, “because you get to see a little bit of what they do versus what we do.”
Swafford is an aspiring music teacher and was thankful to pick up some tips from the pros.
“I talked to some of the players from Netherlands and just got little tips on how to make me a better player with the range and stuff like that,” Swafford said.
Windish said while the band members are at Tallwood, students get to have conversations with them to learn about life in the Netherlands.
“Whether it’s the professional lives that they lead, or just the everyday lives of what is it that they’re eating and watching on the media,” Windish said.
Leaders at the Virginia Arts Festival encourage artists performing in the Tattoo to be a part of the community while they’re here.
Christina Foust, Virginia Arts Festival education and community outreach coordinator, said for some students, it could be the first time they’re seeing professional musicians perform.
“They’re getting to do something they love to do,” Foust said, “playing an instrument beside a professional doing the same thing.”
And it could even strike a chord and inspire a future career in the arts, military, or both.
“I think a lot of them don’t realize that most militaries do have military bands,” Windish said, “and that is, in fact, a wonderful avenue for them to share their talent or their craft. But it also serves as an opportunity for diplomacy.”
Because where words fail, music speaks.
“Between us and the Netherlands, we don’t understand each other’s languages, but we get the language of music,” Swafford said. “We get what this note is and different dynamics and stuff like that. That’s the thing that we can relate.”
More area students will get to see matinee performances of the Tattoo later this week.
There are four opportunities to see the Virginia International Tattoo at Scope this weekend. To buy tickets, click here.
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